These focus notes are very useful to get the core concepts to pass the CPA, and in my opinion would relieve the "too much information" problem in the Wiley CPA books series.

In my opinion, these focus notes will be more useful if combined with another text book. Perhaps the Wiley CPA books series have the advantage of faster cross referencing, since they have the same module division.

If you are a Beckerconviser student, I would recommend that you buy their flash cards...(yes they started selling their own flash cards to their students in fall 2002).

One last note, if you are buying the second edition of the focus notes and using them to attend coming CPA exams,BE CAREFUL BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT UPDATED!!!.
Examples of outdated notes in the financial accounting and reporting section are:
1. in the Intangible assets section (40 years is not any more the maximum useful life for intangible assets), and
2. the treatment of discontinued operations in the financials.

I gave it a 3 stars score because of the update issue.

I used the Focus Notes to assist in preparing for the May 2001 Business Law portion of the CPA exam. I made additional notes on the Focus Notes as I read my textbook and as I completed practice exams. I felt I saved a lot of time I might have wasted making my own flash cards, and the logical format of the Focus Notes helped to clarify the information for me.

I felt great after I completed the exam, and I highly recommend the Business Law Focus Notes as part of your studying.

practical accounting 1, practical accounting 2, auditing theory, auditing problems, management services, business law, tax,theory of accounts

The most interesting aspect of this work is the real nuts and bolts of the war in Afghanistan, and the Pakistani contribution to the war effort. The logistical nightmare of providing arms to the Mujahideen are only one facet of this massive supply operation, and I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about this aspect of the war from a real insider.

I do find flaws in this work, however, and they basically arise from the real difference of opinion about the US role in that conflict. Yes, the United States was interested in supplying the rebels for the sake of Great Power Politics. A defeat of the USSR in Afghanistan surely would be a great victory for the West, and that is why the arms were supplied. Lets get real here. The author seems to take exception with the fact that after the Soviets pulled out, the US did not seem very interested in defeating the puppet government. Why would they care? The weapons were not supplied out of any desire to assist in the Jihad, nor were they provided out of a hope for a better future Afghanistan. Afghan politics was (and is) made up of rivalries, warlords and open conflict. The US had little interest in getting involved before the Soviet occupation, so why would they after? Any interperetation to the contrary is to miss the point. Standard realist politics, pure and simple.

The author also believes that the US removed support from the Mujahideen so that they could not defeat the communist government and create a fundamentalist regeime. The recent events in Afghanistan showed exactly why this was of such great concern to the US. Hindsight is certainly 20-20, and this book was written and published well before the 9/11 attacks on the US. But I feel that the author's concern about the lack of US support for the defeat of the puppet government has been conclusivly shown to be the correct policy choice. The fundamentalist Taliban government allowed Al Qaida to flourish, and we all know how that turned out. I don't beleive too many people who will read this book will feel sorry for the failure (at that time) of a fundamentalist take-over of Afghanistan. Too bad they eventually did so. Maybe the US should have done even more to prevent it.

Also, the author seems to find reason to blame the US for pretty much everything that went wrong with the war. Even when he had no proof, he did not hesitate to show how the US could have done the bad deed. I found very little thanks to a country that sent millions and millions of dollars to help fight the war, even if it was for reasons of self-interest. (Realist politics again.) I continually found it difficult to read where the US was selfish for only wanting to help defeat the USSR, and that the CIA should somehow have been interested in Jihad or helping the historically conflict-ridden political parties within Afghanistan. Even during this war with the USSR, the warlords (according to the author) would sell arms they were given, fight with each other, and pretty much do what they wanted. It was only by using the carrot of more arms and heavier weapons could any control be established over these groups. Why would the US want to get invloved in that???

The subject of the Stinger missiles is covered in great detail, and the introduction of these weapons really changed the whole nature of the conflict. It is claimed (correctly) that the CIA did not want to give this weapon to the Mujahideen for fear it would find it's way to terrorists and unfriendly countries. It was pointed out many times in the book how "if we had the stinger" and this defeat was because they didn't have it, the author himself admits that several weapons DID find their way into Iran. So the US was right all along to be concerned. All air travelers should be concerned that these weapons are still floating around somewhere. Pretty scarey, and the CIA was right to be worried. But that did not seem to be of interest to the author.

So all in all, it is a very good work for the inside scoop on the war from the Pakistani point of view, and it should be read as such. But, the attitude against the US was pretty hard to fathom, and it got to be an annoying part of this book. I'm hardly a flag waver, but give credit where credit is due. The major reason the Soviets left Afghanistan was because of the massive US aid effort. Perhaps that should have been pointed out more in this book.

This is a very interesting book. It provides a good amount of detail about the US - Pakistan process for arming the Afghanistan fighters. It is also an eye opener about the world of international arms sales - what surprised me the most was that many Arab nations were willing to send complete junk for weapons to fellow Muslims. I also enjoyed the story of the first shoot down of a Soviet helicopter and the videotape that made its way to Reagan.

I would argue with the statements about the abandonment of the US - we did leave but we were never in this war to nation build. All of the countries helping out the Afghanistan's were doing so to fight the USSR, not to nation build Afghanistan. We completed a bargain, however unseemly, which was to supply weapons not to make Afghanistan the 51st state. The one thing I would have liked was a bit more size. Overall, a good book and I would recommend it.

This is one hell of a book. It goes into a lot
more detail than most people want regarding
covert operations against the Soviets during
the Afghanistan war. The descriptions of the
CIA's efforts to obtain deniable armaments is
tragedy mixed with comedy. Checkbook war-fighting
doesn't work very well.

The most interesting thing I found in the book was
the description of the failures of the SAM-7 and
blowpipe missiles to bring down Soviet helicopters,
followed by the success of the Stingers. In the
book, Stingers are described as having IFF, which
makes them incapable of shooting down American
military aircraft. Perhaps this is true. If it's
not true, why would a book published 10 years ago
make an offhand claim like that?

The story of how the war ended is disturbingly
familiar to those who watched the end of the Gulf War.
Because we preferred anarchy over a fundamentalist
government, the US betrayed the mujahadeen as soon
as the Soviets left the country. After five more
years of civil war, the fundamentalists took over, anyway.

There are lots of other tidbits, and the overall
effect is to bring things into focus. It's not a
pretty picture. You can see why the various governments
involved didn't really want this book published.

After September 11, it is more relevant than ever.

I wasn't really amused by it, it was only vaguely interesting, and it's not worth the price you have to pay to get it. I like dark humor, but I don't think this was very well done. It starts with Amy and Jordan losing their jobs. Everything goes wrong for those two, and Amy ends up in the hospital several times (once from having her head ripped off by a ghoul, once because toxins were causing the flesh to fall off her bones, and another time because a prison guard beat her up). If you don't mind reading about characters who have one awful thing after another happen to them for no apparent reason and with very little connection to reality, then you might like this book, but I didn't. Still, at least the things that happen to them make at least some strange sense throughout most of the book. By the end of the book, however, things completely stop making even the slightest bit of sense. Apparently, the author can't think of any reasons why the events at the end of the book are occuring either, because he doesn't even attempt to give one of his usual strange and unrealistic explanations.

I bought two copies I liked it so much. A terrific story of what can go wrong and does.

For years I kept this book on my nightstand just so I could look at the cover every night before I went to sleep and wonder how come there are no others from Mr. Beyer. If you can find a copy, congratulations!

Norris and Wagner have the market cornered in this field. Some of their books (eg. "Boeing") are an exceptional blend of information and photography.

Airbus misses the mark; the volume is skimpy enough at 96 pages, but the text wouldn't fill more than half of that, and many of the details you would expect are missing, disconcertingly so.

"Airbus 330/340" rectifies these problems; if you want a casual read, this has my preference.

I enjoyed this book. Its very informative and very nice pictures. I reccommend this book to anyone who is an airbus enthusiate.

This is a great book about Airbus. The pictures are great. I would highly recommend for any airliner fanatics out there.

I found this book difficult to follow and understand. I bought it as a supplement to my children's history program and found that it just wasn't "readable". I found the material disjointed and incomplete. It's Christian text, and I am a Christian, but the book is on the shelf collecting dust.

Although I haven't read this book cover to cover, it is an excellent resource. I think the best way to use this book is to turn to it as you study different eras. For example, if you are studing the Pilgrims, read the pages of America's Providential History concerning the Pilgrims. It is not a complete history text, and it's not meant to be. It shows the overriding hand of God in our history as He moves us forward for His purpose.

This book has been incredibly helpful, easy to read and fascinating for our family. It's written from a Christian, Providential perspective, and shows how clearly the Christian roots in our nation are founded. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a more traditional view of American history, as opposed to the newer, 'watered down and dumbed down' textbooks on the market today.

Smith takes a tautalogical thesis, and displays that business interests don't always dominate the political sphere. Alas, it would seem, that one of the reasons business is not sucessful in this country is that it has too little power vis a vis environmental regulation, labor law, etc. Even with Smith's data and analysis, this is only the case in one domain, where busisnesses are unified in interest and action. In these very few cases, public interest is much higher than the norm and thus oposition to business is much more likely. In Smith's other domains (which capture many more policy instances), public interest is so low, that corporations almost always get what they want...some kind of policy preference from the government. While the typology developed for this study can be applied across policy making units, it is even more likely that corporate interests succeed at the state and local level.

I have been teaching and writing about American politics for twenty five years at the college level, and can recommend this prize-winning book as a landmark in its field. No one has ever assembled the data that Smith has, and he has analyzed it expertly. The findings cut through the superifical cynicism that surrounds interest groups to reveal the limits of group power, while also suggesting the places where it still may reside.

This is must reading of anyone interested in the power of business and interest groups in American national government.

Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan are on the rampage against the influence of big business in politics. But how much power do such businesses really wield? Prof. Smith conclusively demonstrates that the power of business varies across time and issue. Business typically wins politically when it wins public opinion; otherwise politicians often side with consumers (namely their constituents who are also consumers). Smith's book deserves to be read widely in this election year. It's well written to boot.

Arthur's Tooth by Marc Brown is a book that any kid that's about to loose a tooth would enjoy. In this story Arthur is the last to loose a tooth. He feels behind and awkward for it. Everyone tries to help him loose it, but nothing ever succeeds. Finally, Francine, the bully of the group, that hassles Arthur for not loosing a tooth yet, jabs Arthur in the mouth, and knocks his tooth right out!

Arthur was my favorite character in this story. Arthur felt embarrassed that he had never lost a tooth before, and while everyone else was loosing their baby teeth, his was just getting loose. Poor, innocent Arthur. But at the end he shows them that he's no different. Read the book to find out the details!

Another great book from the Arthur series. The book is about Arthur, the last student in the class to lose his first baby tooth. Some of the other students in the class make fun of Arthur, because he still has all his baby teeth. Other students try to help Arthur's tooth fall out, but nothing works. Finally an accident causes Arthur to lose his tooth. This book teaches children to be patient and to help their friends. It also teaches them that everyone is different. I really like this book.

We are first grade students at the Anna Merritt Elementary School. Our teacher did a Marc Brown author study. She read Arthur's Tooth to us and we loved the book. Javeon and Cory liked the part when Arthur wanted to pull out his tooth with his hand. Nicholas and Jacob liked the part when Arthur lost his tooth. Marissa liked the part when Francine knocked Arthur's tooth out. We hope Marc Brown writes a lot more Arthur stories!

By the cover you expect the book to be about ALL kinds of birds, but this book is mainly about Budgies. I only recommend this book for peolpe who have Budgerigars or who are interested in purchasing one. If you are going to buy another type of bird, than some of the information may apply, but not much. If you aren't getting a budgie than don't waste your time. If you are than this book may be helpful

This book is basic and concise, perfect for the beginner interested in keeping birds. Despite that it features only budgerigars, it shows the basic steps in keeping these lovely and beautiful birds and these steps can be applied to other kinds of birds, like canaries. Although the book is meant for 9-12 years old, I feel that it is also good for adults new to the hobby. Overall, I rate this book 5 stars. I am even considering buying others books in this series.

This book explains the basics about caring for budgies (parakeets) from picking your bird to setting up the cage and caring for the bird.

This book is absolutely adorable, lots of bright pictures and easy to read information for young children. It helps young children learn to care for their fluffy friend. Adults and older children enjoy the abundance of pictures.

If you are a rabbit lover, you would like this book. It has all the facts and information about rabbits. It teaches you a lot about rabbits. If you want a rabbit this book will tell you everything you need to know about rabbits. It also tells you things you should not do to a rabbit. This is why I thinnk you should read this book. Elizabeth G.

This book is very helpful to me. I am getting a rabbit soon and it has some very helpful tips in it.